When House Guests Come to Town….Fun!

Having house guests is a great time to explore your own backyard. We had fun last week when our Nephew, Tosten, and his girlfriend, Lindy came for a well deserved vacation.

Tosten has worked in restaurants for years, and Lindy has worked nearly all of her life in restaurants (family biz), so we thought we’d spend a day sampling some of our culinary treasures and wineries. What a great day!

Our first stop was Grecco’s. Lunch is great time to eat at Grecco’s since the menu is broad in price range. Terry and I had sandwiches while the kids had pasta. They loved it. The kitchen was hopping preparing for 2 catered events that evening plus the restaurant.

Next it was on to Chateau St. Croix for wine tasting and a tour. Everytime I’ve gone with guests the place is packed, but Friday at 2:30 was perfect.

Eric, the tour guide, standing in front of a vat filled with wine.

At the Chateau you can have 3 wine tastings for free. All the selections we tried were very good. I have a great picture of Tosten and Lindy but it’s not uploading for me #%@)!

The next stop was Trade River Winery. At Trade River they offer 5 tastings for $5. You can enjoy your wine, by the tasting, or by the bottle on one of their beautiful terraces. Gorgeous gardens too.

After you’ve had 5 tastings you can get an extra 10% off of any wine in their gift shop. Their wine of the month was very good, and at only $8/bottle (not to mention the 10% off) you’re talking my price point (hey, I’m a full time volunteer after all).

I forgot to take a picture of their beautiful location, but I did remember to snap a picture of the wine. Don’t worry – my husband, Terry, was our designated driver.

Love Tree Farmstead cheese is a place I’ve been hoping to visit for a long time. They’re maker’s of some of the best artisanal raw sheep and goat cheese in the country. Owner, Mary Falk, is at the Eureka Center Farmers’ Market on Fridays, so we stopped there for a tasting. Yum!

We decided on two cheeses. One was a soft sheep cheese with lovely holes, and the other was from an Amish goat milk cheese plant that Love Tree cave aged for two years. It’s a cheddar, but it’s dark and dense and amazingly delious. More like a well aged Parmigiano-Reggiano. I have pictures of this too, but again – uploading problems @#*!

Tosten and Lindy made us dinner. The salad ingredients were from my garden as were the green beans, and the chicken fried steak was from beef that I had in my “Meat and Eggs” CSA box a couple of weeks ago. I have to admit the wine is French. Everything was delicious

So, the next time you have guests visiting I hope you’ll have a fun tour of our local food/drink offerings like we did. It was a memorable day.

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